Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-09-11

corning Dan, his 0vo sons and Joshua
Mech, his nephew, was that their hands
were always brown with tar. There was,
besides, a smell of things connected with
boats always lingering about his house;
and though fishing nets were constantly
spread over the garden or on the beach,
there was very little fishing done
Dan, farmer though he was, dressed
habitually as boatman. On Sundays in
the summer he wore white ducks, blue
Jacket with brass buttons and straw hat,
Just as if he was navy man. On other
DAYS he wore great boots, simple blue
shirt and a tarpaulin. Down in the bay
there were three boats. One of these was
a safe, heayily-built fishing smack. Dan
called her the "Chace Mary" 1t was a
good many years before learned to recog-
nize in this name the French chace maree.
Dan picked her up one night abandoned in
the channel. His experience decided her
origin and her name. The boys and Joshua
used now and then to 60 out fishing in her,
bringing home in the morning rich cargo
of bright and beautiful fish. We kept the
best for ourselves, and the rector never
failed to come for his 1.-THE Of John Dory,
bass, bake, pilchards or mackerel. The
rest went to Lyme to be sold.
The boat which lay beside the Chace
Mary was of very different build. She
would be called now-though her lines
would no longer find favor-a fifteen ton
Yacht, sloop rugged. l do not know where
Dan bought her, she was long and narrow;
she was decked; she carried any amount OF
canvas, and she was, as Dan often boosted /;
the very fastest boat in the channel. She
was called the Dancing Polly.
Hauled up on the beach was little
dingy, gay with white paint and provided
with a neat lug sail and a spirit sail and a
pair of SOULS. She belonged to me, but
was, of course, always at the service Of the
firm.
For, not to delay any longer confession
which must sooner or later be made, we
were all of us smugglers by trade and
farmers by pretense. The ten acres OF bar
rem cliff land could never have kept us all
during those hard times, even in poor
way. We were gang of smuggers. Dan
was the head of the firm by hereditary sue
cession. His two boys were partners by
the same right. Joshua Mech was part
ner by grace and free gift of Dan. l,
Pleasance Noel, was an accomplice, alder
and abettor.
In the reign of great George the Third it
was as impossible to make people believe
that smuggling was wrong rs to make :. rus
tic believe in the wickedness of knocking
over hare in the field. To evade the duty
was meritorious Then there was the ro-
nance about the trade; peri's surrounded
it on every side; across the water you
might be caught by the French authorl-
ties and kept in prison, or even shot as
spy; or you might be picked up by a
French privateer; or you might be cut ont
by q revenue cutter; or you might be ar
rested while landing your cargo. These
things were considered, and went to make
a daring smuggler sort of hero. Lastly,
the whole country side stood in with him.
1t was he who brought over the best
French brandy, packages of lace, boxes Of
gloueG, or of perfumes; he was the pro-
WIDER of otherwise unattainable luxuries;
he was public benefactor limo country
inn could you get such spirits as came out
of the illicit kegs; when landlord had
any he would whisper its recommendation
to guest; the squires bought it, the mag
istrates bought it, the revenue officers
bought it, the clergy bought it; no one too
good, too highly placed, too scrupulous to
buy it, A fine and tlattering perfume Of
universal gratitude perpetually soothed the
soul of Dan Gulliver: the sense Of heroic
reputation added dignity to life which,
if spent only on the farm, would have been
certainly mOnotonous, and probably igno-
BILE.
Gratitude among the people naturally
took the shape of completely. 1t some
times happened that Dams carts-those in
nocent carts laden with poultry, vegetables
or fish, which Job or Jephthah drove into
Lyme-were stopped and searched. One
would think that Dan was regularly warn
ed, because nothing was ever found in
them. If the revenue cutter CHANGED to
look in at Rousdon bay the Dancing Polly
was lying at anchor without the least sign
of an intended run, and Dan would be on
the Chace Mary or mending fishing nets or
painting the dingy, with grave face and a
twinkle in his eye.
NlIH ldSU UUdI Inc IuS bduCluS Oll0 ,
with four such handy boatmen as the crew
who manned her, the chief danger was
that of landing the cargo. 1t was desir-
able to know before the run where the rev.
enue cutter was. This information was
got by myself or by one Of boys from the
boatmen of the cove at Lyme or from the
fishermen at Boer She might have been
heard of at Weymouth or she might be ly-
ing at Bridport. Once, when we thought
she was away up SOlent, she came out of
Lulworth cove and chased Dan for three
long days, so that he only got away, with
out throwing his cargo overheard, by the
swiftuess of his heels and the providential
interference of a fog. We had to get news
from Weymouth, from Swanage Pool, Lynn.
iugton and Yarmouth in the west, as from
Beer, Sidmouth, Ladram bay and Dart
mouth. The revenue cutter once ascer-
tanned to be ont of the way, there was little
or no danger of interference from any of
the shore-goiDg folk.
When all seemed safe as regards the ex-
else and q run was resolved on, it was
brave to see the little one, with Dan at the
''hellum," job snd Jephthah in the bows
and Joshua 'midships, beating her way out
of the little narrow bay straight out into
the blackness beyond-for Dan never
started except at night and when there
was moonless sky. would stand on
the beach, the wind blowing my hair about
and the spray flying into my face, to get
the last sight of the gallant boat. Then /
would go home and stay there quite alone
until they returned, in couple of days or
SO, laden with the brandy in kegs. Inever
had any fear them. Dan knew every
inch of the French and English coasts; he
could steer blinfold; he could find Rous-
don Bay in the blacklist night; he was not
afraid, in his tight little craft, of any rea-
sonable weather, provided only that wien
he landed there were no revenue men wait
ing to capture the hero of a hundred runs.
Dan was always q sailor in manner and
dress; Job and Jephthah played two parts:
when they wore corduroys and smock
they were farm laborers, and slouched in
their gate, lifting their feet heavily and
swinging their shoulders, as those do who
90 much upon clay; when they were on
board they dressed like boatmen and they
rolled like sailors. Joshua, on the other